'Faster!' she urged herself, already picturing tearing him apart.
'Die!' she snarled, unleashing the attack packed with her aura.
But her claws struck not flesh, but a glowing green shield protecting Gardevoir, the Guard skill in action.
Bang!
The impact sounded crisp, like a glass ball hitting smooth ground.
Thanks to her blood-red aura, Neferpitou's claws were larger and more powerful than usual, each swipe capable of slicing through the air with a sharp whistle.
She launched a flurry of blade-like strikes, fierce and relentless.
Yet, the thin, mysterious shield held firm, blocking all her attacks.
'What is this?!' Neferpitou panicked, desperate to break through the barrier.
But she had no time to try again.
The white light around Gardevoir quickly faded away, dissolving into tiny glowing particles drifting through the air.
In Neferpitou's eyes appeared the mega-evolved Gardevoir, glowing under the moonlight in a flowing, white, fluffy dress that made it look even more beautiful.
But this wasn't just an elegant figure anymore, it was like a proud, ethereal fairy.
Suddenly, Mega Gardevoir vanished right before her eyes without making a sound, as if it had never been there.
'Where did it go?'
Neferpitou's heart raced as she quickly scanned her surroundings, activating her circle to track it down.
She had to find it fast.
After a few tense moments, she finally detected Mega Gardevoir, not with her eyes, but through her circle.
It was hovering directly above her.
Neferpitou's pupils shrank as fear gripped her; the aura radiating from above was overwhelmingly powerful.
If she got hit by whatever was coming, it would surely be fatal.
But it was already too late.
Just as she realized this, Mega Gardevoir unleashed a massive beam of light that shot down like a pillar from the sky.
The beam was enormous, over ten times the size of the Dragon Head attack Zeno had just used, and moved incredibly fast, leaving no chance for Neferpitou to dodge.
This was the Destructive Death Beam, a powerful move with a base strength of 150, amplified further by Mega Gardevoir's 165 special attack stat and the 1.2x boost from its Fairy Skin ability.
On top of that, Fairy Skin converted the general skill into a fairy-type attack, gaining additional power from the system's bonuses.
And of course, being an S-level mega-evolved Gardevoir made this attack even more devastating.
The beam that flashed before Neferpitou and everyone else was unlike anything they had ever seen.
Gardevoir had intentionally held back some of its strength to preserve Neferpitou's body as much as possible, but there was no doubt she would still suffer serious damage.
Staring at the overwhelming beam, Neferpitou's will to fight completely crumbled.
In that moment, she finally felt the breath of death close in, and her memories began to flood back one by one, as if her mind was spinning uncontrollably.
After she was born, she remembered her battle with Kite, the first time she truly felt the thrill of fighting.
Then she thought about the birth of the Ant King, a moment that marked the real start of her mission: to assist the king.
But now, that mission was about to come to an end.
Suddenly, Neferpitou's consciousness was completely overwhelmed by the Destructive Death Light, her entire body engulfed in a blinding white glow.
The force of the attack didn't weaken after hitting her; instead, the deadly beam continued almost without pause, striking the ground with a massive impact.
Boom!
The thunderous explosion echoed through the sky and rapidly spread out from the site. The sound carried far and wide without fading, rattling the very air as it rolled across the land.
Nearby, Gon and Killua stood frozen in shock. Gon started to speak, "Killua, should we…" but before he could finish, Killua grabbed him by the collar and took off running the way they had come.
"Run!" Killua urged, his voice sharp with urgency as he pulled Gon along with all his strength. Blue lightning arcs crackled across his body, and even his silver hair seemed to flicker like bolts of electricity, boosting his speed several times over.
This was not an attack meant to strike an enemy, it was a desperate bid to survive. Killua pushed himself to sprint harder, taking two steps at a time, determined to put as much distance as possible between them and the blast.
The destructive death ray from Mega Gardevoir was still raging behind them. Even from this distance, they knew that staying meant certain death, the aftermath alone was enough to crush them.
Following the explosion that had shaken the sky, the ground began to crack and split apart. That single beam of destructive light carried the power of countless missiles striking all at once.
Like a dragon thrashing in fury, the earth surged upward in violent waves. Chunks of rock and dirt tore loose as the ground convulsed, sending debris in all directions.
Soil burst high into the air, raining down in a storm of dust and shattered stone. Thick clouds of smoke spread rapidly, blanketing the entire open space.
The area affected by the blast kept growing without pause. Every second, the radius of destruction widened, consuming everything caught in its reach.
Some distance away from the palace, out in the open field, Zeno suddenly turned his head. "Huh?!" he exclaimed, his eyes narrowing sharply.
"What's that presence?" he muttered. In the distance, he spotted a massive pillar of light standing tall against the night sky, its glow unyielding.
The pure white beam of light was so intense it lit up the darkness like day. Shadows vanished completely, replaced by a blinding radiance that stretched for miles.
It was several times larger than Zeno's Dragon Head attack. Calling it just a beam of light felt wrong, it was destruction given shape.
"This is seriously terrifying," Zeno murmured, his voice low. He closed his mouth slowly, but the shock remained clear in his eyes.
There was no need to guess the source. Zeno knew this power was linked to Larry, and more than ever, he felt placing Larry on the banned list had been the right decision.
If he had accepted the Phantom Troupe leader's order to assassinate Larry back then, the Zoldyck family might have been erased from existence. The thought lingered heavily in his mind.
Zeno kept his gaze fixed on the destructive death beam unleashed by Gardevoir. He refused to look away until the blinding light gradually began to fade from the night sky.
As he finally turned, his hands trembled uncontrollably behind his back. The memory of that overwhelming power would not leave him anytime soon.
Meanwhile, Neferpitou was dead, but she was not the first casualty among the guards. Pouf had fallen before her, defeated by Gengar in a fight that left no room for escape.
Somewhere within the palace, in a room filled with thick white smoke, Pouf stared in disbelief as Gengar emerged from the shadows. His face remained icy cold, but inside, his emotions churned wildly as he felt the overwhelming aura in front of him.
'Impossible! This rivals even the king!' he thought, his mind struggling to accept what he was sensing. He could not believe a human could possess power comparable to their king, yet the truth was undeniable.